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Tyler Matthew Schnapp waives preliminary hearing

By Sarah Rose

roses@canoncitydailyrecord.com

Posted:
07/24/2014 06:23:09 PM MDT

Tyler Matthew Schnapp in the Wells Fargo Bank surveillance video. Charges against Schnapp were filed May 20, and include three counts of aggravated robbery, a class 3 felony; three counts of criminal attempt to commit aggravated robbery, a class 4 felony; felony menacing; a misdemeanor theft count and a sentence enhancer of crime of violence. (Courtesy Photo)

Tyler Schnapp (Courtesy Photo)

The man accused of robbing a Penrose Wells Fargo Bank waived his preliminary hearing Thursday in District Court.

Tyler Matthew Schnapp's will make his next appearance 9 a.m. Aug. 28 for a plea hearing.

Charges against Schnapp, 19, were filed May 20, and include three counts of aggravated robbery, a class 3 felony; three counts of criminal attempt to commit aggravated robbery, a class 4 felony; felony menacing; a misdemeanor theft count and a sentence enhancer of crime of violence.

Schnapp was arrested at about 5 p.m. May 14, the same day of the alleged robbery. According to an arrest affidavit, he was spotted by a Fremont County sheriff's deputy while driving home from Walmart after purchasing a new electronic gaming system, which cost "approximately $150" and was paid for by some of the "proceeds of the robbery."

According to the arrest affidavit, at 11:42 a.m. May 14, an employee of the Wells Fargo Bank at 210 Broadway in Penrose called Fremont County dispatch "reporting that the bank had just been robbed." When deputies and CIRT detectives arrived on scene, the affidavit states that the bank teller reported that a customer "handed her a folded piece of paper" with a handwritten note that stated this is a robbery and demanded cash from her drawer.

The affidavit states that the bank teller "observed that the man was ... holding a black handgun in his hand." The bank teller "handed him the cash from her drawer, which amounted to approximately $1,300," states the affidavit.

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While gathering evidence from the Wells Fargo Bank, a detective received a call from an employee with the Credit Union of Colorado, another banking institution in Cañon City, who said about 30 minutes before the Wells Fargo robbery, a young man matching the Wells Fargo Bank robbery suspect "entered the credit union and acted suspiciously" and left "without conducting any transactions for other business."

Law enforcement was provided a description of the suspect's vehicle by a man who was outside the Wells Fargo Bank using the ATM and "observed a maroon-colored, smaller SUV vehicle with a green sticker in the back window driving oddly in the parking lot," states the affidavit.

The release states that "deputies and officers from the Florence Police Department conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle on U.S. 50 near Penrose" at about 4:45 p.m., after the suspect vehicle was spotted by a FCSO deputy. The deputy "was able to visually identify Schnapp as the man in the (Wells Fargo Bank surveillance) video."

Schnapp was taken into custody and transported to the Cañon City Police Annex.

During interview, the affidavit states that Schnapp "confessed to entering the Credit Union of Colorado with the intent to rob it, but he 'chickened out,'" but "further confessed to committing the robbery at Wells Fargo." During the interview, according to the affidavit, the armory Schnapp used was a BB gun, "owned by him (that) had been stored in the garage at his residence."

Schnapp also said he "has been down on his luck as he recently lost his job" and that "he had not elaborately planned to do any of this, only deciding to do it that morning."